1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to broadband digital transmission and reception. More particularly, the invention relates to the transmission and reception of Internet protocol packets on a broadband digital transmission network.
2. Description of Related Art
Digital broadband transmission networks are known. An example of such a network is that defined by the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC). Another example of such a network enjoying popularity in Europe and elsewhere world-wide is Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) which, like ATSC, in addition to the delivery of television content, is also capable of delivering data. Both ATSC and DVB utilize a containerization technique in which content for transmission is placed into MPEG-2 packets that act as data containers. Thus, the containers can be utilized to transport any suitably digitized data including, but not limited to High Definition TV, multiple channel standard definition TV (PAL/NTSC or SECAM) and, of course, broadband multimedia data and interactive services.
Conventionally, broadband digital transmission services transmit television content and data to end-users via transport streams. An example of such a transport stream used in ATSC and DVB is the MPEG-2 transport stream. Each transport stream contains individual transport stream packets identified by a packet identifier (PID). The PID contains the information required to locate, identify and reconstruct particular content or data in a receiver. A single transport stream typically contains transport stream packets identified by more than one packet identifier.
The processing of transport stream packets is time consuming and can have a significant impact on the performance of a broadband digital broadcast receiver. Such an impact on performance is accepted in the case of the delivery of more traditional television content. However, this is not the case in the provision of certain other types of service such as the delivery of Internet protocol packets that can carry audio, video, text, other data or any combination of them. A single Internet protocol packet is conventionally carried inside one datagram section. A datagram section is formed of one or more transport stream packet payload sections. Existing broadband digital broadcast receivers filter and process incoming transport stream packets to determine whether or not the transport stream packets contain payloads that are part of a desired Internet protocol packet. Although there have been some proposed solutions to reduce the number of transport stream packets filtered and processed by a broadband digital broadcast receiver, these solutions have involved using limitations of existing protocols to provide digital broadcast services. A significant drawback of these solutions is that they require modifying the hardware or software components and are incompatible with current standards.
Therefore, there exists a need in the art for apparatus, systems and methods for transmission and reception of services in which encapsulation of packets of the service results in the payload of those packets being distributed over one or more transport stream packets. More specifically, there exists a need for apparatus, systems and methods of transmission and reception of Internet protocol data over broadband digital broadcast service networks that require reduced processing by broadband digital broadcast receivers and that do not require extensive modifications to existing broadband digital broadcast receivers as well as increased speed in hand-over of the receivers moving between broadband digital broadcast base stations. Furthermore there is a need to link IP and DVB address information.
One or more of the above-mentioned needs in the art are satisfied by the disclosed systems and methods that link the filtering of Internet protocol data to the filtering of transport stream packets.
In a first embodiment, a method for processing a digital broadband transmission at a receiver is provided. The method includes capturing a transport stream packet and analyzing the transport stream packet to detect a first identifier. When the first identifier is detected, second and third identifiers are detected. The second identifier is stored in a memory. Next, the third identifier is compared to a predetermined value. When the third identifier corresponds to the predetermined value, additional transport stream packets that include the second identifier are selected. Finally, a service with data carried in transport stream packets that include the second identifier is provided.
In another embodiment of the invention, a broadband digital broadcast receiver that processes Internet protocol packets that are transmitted as payloads of one or more transport stream packets containing packet identifiers is provided. The receiver includes a transport stream filter that filters transport stream packets according to packet identifiers and a decapsulation module coupled to the transport stream filter and that decapsulates Internet protocol data from transport streams. An address filter compares address information from the Internet protocol data to a desired Internet protocol address. A processor is programmed with computer-executable instructions to cause the receiver to perform the step comprising configuring the transport stream filter based on information received from the address filter.
In other embodiments of the invention, computer-executable instructions for implementing the disclosed methods are stored on computer-readable media.